Disney Was A Top Ad Spender on Facebook in H1

September 17, 2020

This article is included in these additional categories:

Advertising Trends | Digital | Social Media | Spending & Spenders

Pathmatics Top Advertisers on Facebook in H1 Sept2020Disney spent an estimated $211.8 million in Facebook advertising in the first half of this year, making it, by far, the top Facebook advertiser for the first two quarters of the year. This is according to a report [download page] from Pathmatics that looks at the top US Facebook advertisers in H1 and the effects the Facebook boycott has had on advertising on the platform.

Pathmatics reports that Disney increased its advertising spend on Facebook in H1 2020 by more than 2000% over the same period in 2019. The bulk of this spending was to promote its popular new streaming service, Disney+.

Spending less than half as much as Disney, Procter & Gamble, with its $81.7 million investment, is second on the list of Facebook’s top advertisers for H1, per Pathmatic’s data. The multinational CPG company is followed by the US Census Bureau ($51.5 million), Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. ($41.7 million) and Home Depot ($40 million).

Other big spenders on Facebook during the first half of the year included Purple Innovation ($33.3 million), HBO ($32.2 million), Wix.com ($32.1 million), CBS ($32.1 million) and Domino’s Pizza ($30.8 million).

While it was poised to benefit from advertisers’ move to invest more in social media as a result of the pandemic, Facebook felt a backlash from advertisers after refusing to change its policy regarding hate or violent speech on its platform as brands took a stand in support of equality and racial justice movements like Black Lives Matter,

As such, more than 180 brands reportedly boycotted the platform for the month of July as part of the #stophateforprofit campaign. This included Facebook’s top two advertisers – Disney and Procter & Gamble.

Per the report, ad dollars meant for Facebook during the boycott looked as though they were being shifted to YouTube, Twitter and Amazon. Disney, alone, increased its advertising spending on Amazon by more than 43x after July 1st.

The full report can be found here.

About the Data: Per the report, “Pathmatics spend estimates are based on our proprietary panel and spend methodology. They may not accurately estimate the spend for any advertiser.”

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